I agree that Trunk is being a little nitpicky about what constitutes an emergency, and sometimes seems to be manipulating situations to discount their importance.
For example, the woman who fell off her bike on the rural road and injured her shoulder- on the continuum from inconvenience to emergency, that falls closer to emergency to me. Let me manipulate the story: the woman didn’t have a phone and was then hit and killed standing on the road seeking help.
Does that seem to be stretching things? Well, maybe, but a similar situation happened to my friend. Her car broke down on a rural road at dusk. She walked for help. She was struck and thrown by a drunk driver who left her there. She was found dead in the grass hours later when her family realized she was late coming home and looked for her.
Would this situation have had a different oucome if she’d had a cell phone? Maybe. Probably. Who knows?
I’ve used my cell for emergencies three times.
Once there was a pile of bullets (maybe 300 of them) in the road. I don’t know if that is an emergency or not, but I’m pretty sure it needs prompt attention.
Once, in my car, I was caught in a riot at an intersection- hundreds of people were swarming the roadway, climbing over and around the cars. A fight had broken out on my right and several guys were beating one guy and throwing him onto some large rocks.
Once I let someone use my phone following a hit and run accident. The person who ran was hiding himself and his car behind some buildings and trees at the end of the road. I suppose that is not an emergency as noone was injured, but it could be considered one if catching the person was a priority, I guess.